The whole agreement, albeit a purely arbitrary distinction, was divided into three parts. Still, calling the sisters Eumenides was just part of the agreement. In a trial, the Greek goddess of war and the home, Athena, settled for Eumenides. But then again, people were afraid to call the three sisters by their actual names because of the potential consequences. The easiest way to do it was to just name the three goddesses by their actual names. So, since the names Furies or Erinyes would still refer to vengeance, a change in name was needed for the deities to stay viable. The change, in short, was that Greek society came to believe in a judicial system based on fairness rather than vengeance. For now, it suffices to say that the change of the name was to signify a societal change. We will discuss the exact details of how they became known as Eumenides in one of the following paragraphs. Being called the Furies didn’t really relate to the zeitgeist of ancient Greece at a certain point in time. Eumenides signifies ‘the well-meaning’, the ‘kindly ones’, or ‘soothed goddesses’.īut, it has a reason. As opposed to Erinyes, Eumenides is a name that would only be used to refer to the Furies at a later point. EumenidesĪnother name that is used to refer to the Furies is Eumenides. Both of them signify something like ‘I hunt up’ or ‘persecute.’ In the Arcadian dialect, it is believed to be based on erinô. When we look at classical Greek, the name Erinyes is believed to be derived from the words erinô or ereunaô. The name Erinyes is believed to be derived from Greek or Arcadian, an ancient Greek dialect. The two names are nowadays used interchangeably. Indeed, Erinyes is a more ancient name to refer to the Furies. Erinyesīefore they were called the Furies, they were mostly known as the Erinyes. Therefore, many people and sources use different names for the Furies in modern times. Over the years, the dialect, language use, and society of the ancient Greeks changed quite a lot. The three women that are known as the Furies are also known by some other names. The Furies are very well-known maidens, but Persephone is by far the most well-known. A maiden is a word that is associated with unmarried, youthful, excited, carefree women, somewhat erotic. Many Greek goddesses were actually referred to like that. The three sisters together were known as three maiden goddesses. The last sister, Megaera, was feared for her ability to curse people with ‘jealous rage’. The second sister, Tisiphone, was known to curse the sinners with ‘vengeful destruction’. Each of the three deities would curse their subject with the very thing they embodied.Īlecto was known as the sister that cursed people with ‘endless anger’. The three appeared in Virgil’s work Aeneid. Through this, he was able to pin down the Furies to at least three: Alecto, Tisiphone, and Megaera. In his poetry, he processed his own research and sources. The Greek poet was not just a poet, he was also a researcher. This is based on the works of the ancient poet Virgil. But, it is certain that there are at least three. Who is Known as the Furies?Īlthough we have talked about three sisters that are known as the Furies, the actual number is usually left indeterminate. Especially in later times, this would become more obvious. While cruel, their punishments were generally seen as fair retributions for the crimes that were committed. For example, they made people sick or temporarily mad. Indeed, it could come in many different forms. The moment that the three goddesses identified a mortal human that broke their oath, they would assess the right punishment for the crime. A preference to punish the people that harmed their family is therefore pretty easily justified. The three sisters were born out of a family fight. The Furies were mostly interested in people that had murdered a family member, trying to specifically protect the parents and the oldest siblings. So, in short, they punished anyone who went against the code of the three deities. More specifically, they aimed their punishments directly at the mortals that broke the moral and legal codes of the time. They were fearsome entities that lived in the underworld where the Furies carried out punishments for mortals. The Furies were believed to be the three ancient Greek goddesses of vengeance. Who Were the Furies and What Was Their Purpose? Who Were the Furies and What Was Their Purpose?.
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